MV Transportation Inc. will replace Coach America as LA DOT’s Northern provider of Commuter Express and DASH services in June. Under the terms of the five-year, approximately $55 million agreement, MV will operate 27 neighborhood circular bus routes and seven daily commuter.

Overall, MV will operate 82 commuter coaches and transit buses and will have a staff of more than 130 employees.

MV Transportation also holds the contract for LADOT’s central and southern Los Angeles routes, awarded in August 2011 through a competitive bidding process. In addition, MV Transportation operates more than 30 other contracts in the Greater Los Angeles area.

The pilots will include a combination of dedicated bus-only lanes that take bus riders out of car congestion, technology to time traffic signals so that buses get more green lights, and platforms that allow riders to “level-board” the bus quickly as they would a subway.

The MetroHealth Line was developed as part of a naming rights agreement between RTA and The MetroHealth System, executed earlier this year, to rebrand the No. 51 family of routes. Those routes have the second highest bus ridership after the HealthLine.